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11 Emotional WWE Goodbyes We Will Have To Deal With In 2018 (And 5 From NXT)

2018 is shaping up to be a major year for professional wrestling. The business is growing outside of WWE with the international market being stronger than ever. Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks have already planned their first major show in a 10,000+ seat venue scheduled for September. WWE is looking to grow as well in many ways. They must negotiate a new television with Fox looking to steal them away from USA. WrestleMania is getting closer and WWE wants to improve the popularity of the event with each passing year. All these factors will lead to turn over on the roster regarding people coming in and going out.

NXT factors in this through a different perspective. The best wrestlers from NXT get called up when there is a role ready for them on the main roster allowing other new talent to get a spot down there. Wrestlers leaving WWE’s main roster just means more spots will open and a lot will change for the entire company. We will look at both the pain and joy of saying goodbye in WWE. There will be 11 names here that will be leaving WWE in 2018 and five wrestlers that will leave NXT to get called up to the main roster.

16 Goodbye WWE: Sheamus

via thesun.co.uk

Sheamus has had a strong career with WWE winning most of the major titles in his run. The main event push didn’t work out, but he was able to have multiple WWE Championship and World Championship reigns. Sheamus is currently a fixture in the tag team division as his work with Cesaro in The Bar has been highly impressive.

15 Goodbye WWE: Daniel Bryan

via wrestlingnews.co

Daniel Bryan’s situation is the opposite of Sheamus’ right now. WWE believes Bryan is too injured to continue wrestling, but his doctors state his issues aren’t as serious as the company states. Bryan has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be a part of WWE unless they clear him to compete in the ring. The contract of Bryan is expiring in September of this year meaning there’s about nine months to clear him.

14 Goodbye NXT: Peyton Royce and Billie Kay

via wwe.com

The Iconic Duo of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay have been ready for the main roster for quite some time. Both ladies possess the tremendous combination of outstanding in-ring talent, entertaining charisma and stunning looks. Royce and Kay have been rumored to be getting the call-up to the main roster for many months, but WWE appears to be waiting on the right time.

13 Goodbye WWE: Big Show

via wwe.com

Big Show has been discussing his impending retirement for quite some time now. WWE allows him to work a reduced schedule that both parties believe is best for all involved. Big Show will return to the company a handful of times per year for WrestleMania season and whenever they need him to work with someone. Braun Strowman and Big Cass were the two young projects Big Show was called in to work with.

12 Goodbye WWE: R-Truth

via wwe.com

Another veteran on the active WWE roster is R-Truth. We barely see him on television, but R-Truth performs on all the live events. Vince McMahon is reportedly a huge believer in R-Truth as the two became buddies over the years. This is the reason R-Truth has received random small pushes out of the blue or placed into big multi-man matches during his career.

11 Goodbye NXT: Aleister Black

via wwe.com

The talented Aleister Black is one of the biggest stars in NXT right now. Black made an impact shortly into his NXT run and appeared main roster ready faster than most. The presentation of Black by Triple H and the other minds to run NXT helped get him to another level that he lacked on the independent circuit. Black always had the in-ring talent, but he now shows a star quality before he even enters the ring.

10 Goodbye WWE: Mickie James

via wwe.com

Mickie James has had a legendary wrestling career and deserved the contract WWE gave her last year. The body of work from Mickie allowed her to truly shine as one of the best women’s wrestlers of all time. You will be hard pressed to find another North American women’s wrestler to have as many great matches on television as James.

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9 Goodbye WWE: Mark Henry

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Mark Henry has already transitioned to a role outside of the ring for WWE, but he has yet to get his farewell. The career of Henry lasted too long with too many memorable moments in WWE for him to quietly retire with no fanfare. We will likely see Henry get involved in one last program at some point when the opportunity presents itself.

8 Goodbye NXT: No Way Jose

via wwe.com

No Way Jose has become a forgotten man in NXT. The fun-loving character of No Way Jose loves to dance and had strong fan support for the first few months of his run. No Way Jose even had a memorable TakeOver match against Austin Aries in Brooklyn back in 2016. Unfortunately, that ended up being the peak of his time in NXT.

7 Goodbye WWE: Goldust

via wwe.com

The underrated career of Dustin Rhodes should see him enter the Hall of Fame whenever he retires from the ring. Most known for the Goldust character, he is still a part of the main roster for the Raw brand. We have most recently seen Goldust working in cruiserweight segments on Raw and on the 205 Live show trying to help Cedric Alexander get more credibility.

6 Goodbye WWE: Brock Lesnar

via bleacherreport.net

The contract of Brock Lesnar is expected to expire at some point in 2018. Lesnar has stated he doesn’t enjoy wrestling and just does it due to being good at the job. The massive income he receives from WWE must help as the highest paid star that works few dates. However, the outside interests of Brock may keep him away from WWE.

5 Goodbye NXT: Andrade Almas

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Current NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas is arguably the best all-around performer in NXT right now. Almas was struggling immensely during the first year of his NXT run. Fans couldn’t stand him due to his portrayal of a corny face character that lacked the personality to stand out. The addition of Zelina Vega completely changed his career for the best.

4 Goodbye WWE: Kane

via wwe.com

The return of Kane has been shocking in many regards. WWE has pushed him as a top star for the first time in a long time. Kane has received great moments at the expense of Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins and other relevant names. An upcoming major match at the Royal Rumble will see Kane battle Brock Lesnar and Strowman for the Universal Championship.

3 Goodbye WWE: The Undertaker

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The kayfabe brother of Kane may very well retire on the same night at him. Everyone assumed The Undertaker retired at WrestleMania 33 last year when he lost to Roman Reigns and left his gear in the ring. The symbolism was that he gave his all and left it in the ring after a storied career. WWE even flat out stated that Reigns retired Undertaker over the past year.

2 Goodbye NXT: Undisputed Era

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The trio of Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish known as Undisputed Era has been among the top acts on NXT. Since becoming a group in August, they have accomplished many great moments. Adam Cole’s debut closed the show at TakeOver: Brooklyn, the combination of Fish and O’Reilly won the NXT Tag Team Championship and the trio won the first ever WWE War Games match.

1 Goodbye WWE: Paige

via mirror.co.uk

The recent news pertaining to Paige’s WWE future is quite heartbreaking. At a recent WWE live event, the returning star suffered a big time stinger after taking a stiff kick in the back by Sasha. Video of the incident is up online from a show in Long Island.

It turns out, the injury might be a lot worse than first anticipated and one that might cause the end of Paige’s career. The neck injury is said to be career threatening and at this point, it might appear as though her in-ring days are done. Paige kept optimistic about the incident making the statement, “the comeback is always stronger than the set back”. At the age of 25 and into the prime of her career, we can only hope the injury isn’t as bad as the recent news is telling us. There’s a high probability we’ll have to say goodbye to Paige in 2018.